Opening statements in Bill Cosby's retrial on sexual assault charges get underway in suburban Philadelphia Monday in what all sides — defense, prosecution and especially the judge — hope will not be a rerun of the deadlocked jury failure that ended Cosby's first trial last June.

Given that headlines about the former "America's Dad" TV comedian/icon have been landing regularly since October 2014, and given the constant legal back-and-forth about the case since he was charged in December 2015, a recap is in order.

NORRISTOWN, Pa. – The nearly four-year effort to jail Bill Cosby as a convicted sexual assailant reached the end of its first phase Monday as a two-day sentencing hearing began in Pennsylvania.

The 81-year-old comedian will learn his fate following his April conviction on three counts of aggravated felony sexual assault for drugging and molesting a former friend, Andrea Constand, at his home in Montgomery County outside Philadelphia in January 2004.

Judge Steven O'Neill could sentence Cosby to as much as 30 years in prison or send him home on probation.

USA TODAY is in the courtroom and will provide status updates throughout the two-day hearing: